I'm so fond of this funky little series. It's more railroaded than most CoG titles are, and I have my issues with the author, but this was the first title I played on the website so it has a special place in my heart. The first game is kind of shallow in comparison to where the story would go in The Hero Project and Heroes Rise: HeroFall (the sequels), and the romance is essentially not present at all here unless you count Black Magic who is basically forced upon you (BIG no-no in CoG games, they're all about choice and player agency), but in my opinion it doesn't deserve the sheer level of mockery directed at it these days.

Other CoG games are much better and offer much more player choice and variation in routes, but this is a good first experience of the genre to get used to the playstyle without getting overwhelmed, and it's still a story worth experiencing.